1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods used to consolidate billing and accounting data and practices in converging telecommunications networks. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods used to receive billing information from disparate telecommunications devices which may be operated by a multitude of telecommunications vendors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today""s telecommunications industry is a crowded one in which customers and service providers are being increasingly linked together via converging networks, such as in the case of converging voice and data networks. As such, a growing trend to make communications services available over publicly accessible networks such as the Internet increases the need for open, multi-vendor, multi-protocol networks and systems. Such a trend has been realized as result of the fact that service providers and others have found that closed, single-vendor, single-protocol networks are, difficult, if not impossible, to create and manage, are not scalable to meet future communications needs, and do not permit consumers to self-direct their communications needs.
As the need for more and enhanced services to be provided via the Internet increases, for example, consumers of telecommunications services will demand greater numbers of customized services, such as enhanced video-conferencing, increased bandwidth, etc. Additionally, consumers requiring greater control of their services will require the ability to self-provision and direct the provision of services xe2x80x9con demand.xe2x80x9d Currently, providing such on-demand and often customized services and network based solutions such as those to be provided via the Internet is prohibited both in terms of capability and cost. For example, a single network solution or service (e.g., enhanced bandwidth for specific network events, etc.) now requires the concerted cooperation of several telecommunication providers and may involve the operation and control of devices manufactured and controlled by a multitude of vendors, some of which may operate based on unique and, possibly, proprietary protocols. Such disparate systems and the network resources used to deliver network services ultimately may not interface with other telecommunications devices without requiring significant effort in terms of customization and configuration. And, then, if such services can ultimately be provisioned by pre-arranging vendor relationships and pre-configuring hardware and software solutions, consumers may face costs associated with such customized services that far out weigh any benefits.
Another problem facing consumers and telecommunications providers alike, is the inability to provide consolidated billing and accounting information to facilitate purchasing and supplying of telecommunications services. Such problems are exacerbated when thought of in the context of converging networks where many different types of transport across many different network layers supporting voice and data applications may be custom-linked to service a particular customer need. While some vendors such as MCI/MCI WORLDCOM, INC. have offered xe2x80x9conexe2x80x9d type billing systems wherein consolidated billing and accounting information related to a host of services (e.g., voice bandwidth, data bandwidth, cellular) purchased by a particular a customer is made available to that customer, such systems typically are single-vendor based, are directed to a single, particular customer, and merely refer to purchases of pre-configured service offerings. Such prior consolidated billing schemes offered no way of consolidating billing and accounting information related to one or more services that, in fact, are custom configured based on a particular customers on-demand provisioning choices, etc.
Thus, there exists a need to provide new and improved systems and methods to provision network resources in converging telecommunications networks such as converging voice and data networks to deliver merged, services based on customer needs on demand, and, thus, to consolidate billing and accounting data related to such merged services. To be viable such systems and methods must support legacy systems and integrate new technologies seamlessly so that consumers of telecommunications services can obtain a breadth of feature rich services and receive consolidated billing and accounting statements. Such systems and methods must support various network technologies, facilitate communications within multi-protocol networks, and permit consolidated billings and accounting schemes. And, such new and improved systems and methods must permit consumers of telecommunications services to self-provision and self-direct their telecommunications services from within easily usable interfaces such as Internet and web based interfaces that support communications service provision on demand.
The present invention addresses the aforementioned problems and needs squarely and provides such new and improved systems and methods as described below.
The present invention solves the aforementioned problems and provides new and improved systems and methods for integrating network resources within converging telecommunications networks to provision communications services and to consolidate billing data generated by disparate telecommunications devices. Such systems and methods are capable of enabling providers of services to link with other providers seamlessly to provide enhanced services over voice and data networks especially over publicly accessible networks such as the Internet. Consumers of telecommunications services will benefit from the present invention by obtaining greater control over their communications needs and, in particular, will gain the ability to self direct and self-provision the services they need, and the ability to receive consolidated billing notices and the like.
The present invention solves the aforementioned problems and delivers the above-stated benefits by providing new and improved systems and methods for facilitating consolidated billing within a converging telecommunications network. The system and method include and involve a network resource control facility communicating with and controlling a plurality of network resources within a merged telecommunications network to deliver at least one merged communications service. Each network resource is configured to provide a communications function and to generate corresponding billing data. The network resource control facility is configured to consolidate the billing data from at least one network resource from the plurality of network resources in real-time related to at least one telecommunications service provided within said telecommunications network to generate consolidated billing data. The system and method further include an interface facility which is accessible via a network connection and which is configured to access the network resource control facility to receive the consolidated billing data to produce a consolidated billing notice related to the telecommunications service(s) that are provided.
The present invention is discussed in detail below with regard to several attached drawing figures which are next described briefly.